Is This The Next Make-Up Craze?

By Holly O'Neill
24th Aug 2017

Baking, strobing, contouring… now draping?

Heavy duty contouring is no more but a beauty trend that first took place in the 80’s has come full circle and found it’s way back on our radar. Thankfully, this new face-chiselling make-up craze needs a lot less product than strobing, contouring or baking, leaves minimal room for error and is universally flattering.

It’s called draping and it relies on colours; you “drape” your face in two different shades of blusher to sculpt your face; one light and one dark. The first version of draping from?the 80’s was iconic on Elizabeth Taylor, Brooke Shields and Cher, seen in flashy shades of red.

A post shared by Marc Jacobs Beauty (@marcbeauty) on Jun 30, 2016 at 10:36am PDT

Today’s draping fits in a much fresher aesthetic designed to elevate and enhance your natural features, in keeping with the no make-up make-up we’ve replaced contouring with.

First, a darker shade of blusher is applied below the apples of the cheeks. Next, a lighter shade is used to blend away any harsh lines from the darker blush. Apply the light blush where you place your highlighter; down the nose, swept across the highest point of the cheekbones and over the forehead.

GUCCI Autumn Winter 2017

Draping made a comeback on the A/W17 runways, with cheek colour being the focus of many make-up artist’s briefs. As is often the case with runway beauty looks, the draping trend seen at shows are a much amplified version of the draping look the average woman will wear; the blush was blended into eyeshadow, wrapped around the eyes and swept up into the hairline for added drama. Of course, the intensity of the tone of the blusher is up to you.